Truss fixture for electric railway equipment



April 1 1931- R. G. WILLIAMS, 1,801,474

TRUSS FIXTURE FOR ELECTRIC RAILWAY EQUIPMENT Filed Feb. 6, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l R0 Hawk/6." 7147502775 April 21, 1931. R. G. WILLIAMS TRUSS FIXTURE FOR ELECTRIC RAILWAY EQUIPMENT Filed Feb. 6, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Apr. 21, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR T0 MALLEABLE IRON CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTI- TRUSS FIXTURE FOR ELECTRIC RAILWAY EQUIPMENT Application filed February 6, 1930. Serial No. 426,322.

This invention relates to truss structures for electric railway equipment, and has for its object to apply constructions of this sort in the installation of electric railway equipment that employs H-shaped metal poles and H-shaped cross arms or cross masts, without the necessity of drilling or in any way perforating either the poles or the cross or mast arms.

Since this construction is applied in pre cisely the same manner to opposite poles with which the cross arms are connected the invention is only illustrated as applied to a single pole with its cross or mast arm.

Referring to the accompanying drawing- Figure 1 is a broken side elevation illustrating my invention as applied to a single pole and cross arm.

Figure 2 is a top view of the construction q illustrated at Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a section at the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4C is a detail inside view of the clamping fixtures.

Figure 5 is a section at the line 5+5 of Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a section at the line 66 of Figure 1.

Figure 7 is a broken side elevation showing the manner in which a single truss rod is applied to a mast arm.

Figure 8 is an end View of the construction shown at Figure 7.

Figure 9 is a top view of such construc tion, and

Figure 10 is a section at the line 1010 of Figure 8.

Similar numerals of reference denote like parts in the several figures of the drawing.

The drawings, so far as they are identified with an electric railway equipment having opposite poles and an intermediate cross arm or beam, illustrate but one pole, since the opposite pole and the manner of attaching the same to the cross arms are precisely like the parts illustrated, and in applying the present invention the truss rod that extends from an opposite pole is merely broken away.

This invention has nothing whatever to do with the securing of the cross arm or beam to the poles as this forms the subject of another application filed by me on even date herewith, to state that the pole 1 and cross arm or beam 2 are imperforate and are H-shaped in crosssection and that they are secured together in any suitable manner.

Referring to Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, 3 are spaced clamping fixtures which have vertically extending channels 4 that embrace opposite edges of the pole 1, so as to be freely slidable therealong for the purposes of ad justment, and 5 are bolts passed through these fixtures and extending close to the surface of the pole, and having driven on their ends nuts 6 for clamping these fixtures firmly to said edges.

7 is also a bolt passed through these fixtures 3 at a location slightly beyond that of the bolts 5, and 8 is a clevis located between the sections 3 through which clevis the bolt 7 passes freely so that there is'a pivotalrelation between said clevis and bolt. 9 are nuts driven on the ends of the bolt 7 so as to assist in binding the fixtures 3 firmly in any adjusted position with respect to the opposite edges of the pole.

The clevis 8 has extending laterally therefrom wings 10 whose external surfaces are circular and concentric with the axis of the bolt 7, and the fixtures 3 immediately adjacent said clevis have their inner surfaces curved as at 11 to correspond with the curvature of the wings 10, and the latter are always in contact with these surfaces 11, as the clevis swings up or down on its pivotal point 7.

12 is a coupler member having fingers 13 that are interengaged with the fingers 14 of the clevis, and a bolt 15 is loosely passed through these inte'rengaging fingers and a nut 16 driven on the outer end of the bolt against the coupler 12 so that said bolt will afford a means for pivoting the two sets of fingers to gether.

The swing of the clevis itself is in a vertical plane while the swing of the coupler member is in a plane at right angles thereto, for the purpose presently to be explained.

17 is the truss rod one end of which is secured to the coupler in any suitable manner and therefore it will be sufficient while the other end is passed through an anchorage fixed on the arm 2 and thereafter clamped to said anchorage, in the manner now to be described.

This anchorage will be designated generally by the numeral 18 and consists of an. upper member 19 and a lower member 20 which contact the upper and lower faces of the arm 2, and the lateral extremities of these members are respectively provided with lugs 21, 22, which embrace the lateral edges of the arm 2, so that it will be clear that each of these members is capable of a sliding movement along this arm 2.

23 are bolts which are passed through the lateral portions of these members 19, 20, outside the arm 2, and :24 are nuts driven on the ends of these bolts for the purpose of clamping the members 19, 20, to the upper and lower faces of this arm.

The anchorage shown is a double one, and consists of perforated housings 26, that are preferably formed integral with the mem ber 19, and are side by side, and the members 19, 20, are adjusted along the arms 2 until they have assumed the proper position with respect to opposite poles 1 with the truss rods 17 extending through the perforations in the respective housings :25, :26, and nuts 27, 28 are driven on the ends of these rods 17 against the walls of the housings to bind the truss rods firm in position.

In assembling the truss rods. that extend from opposite poles, through the perforations in these housings, both the vertical and the horizontal swing of these rods are utilized as will be obvious, and when anchored in position as above set forth these rods will adequately afford a means for preserving the rigidity of the cross or mast arm 2.

In installations used in connection with single railway tracks, a single set of poles 1 is employed, and the cross arms are comparatively short and usually termed mast arms, with an anchorage only for a single truss rod, and at Figures 7, 8, 9 and 10 there is illustrated one form of anchorage that is secured to the outer end of the mast arm and this comprises an upper member 29 that rests upon the upper surface of the arm 2 and like- Wiseembraces the lateral edges of said arm, and also clamping members 30 that extend beneath the opposite flanged portions of the arm 2, bolts 31 passed through the members 29 and 30, and nuts 32 driven on the ends of said bolts against the members 30, whereby the truss rod anchorage may be firmly fixed to the mast arm.

A single perforated housing member 33 is formed integral with the member :29 and has a lower extension 3+1 that is slotted as shown at 35 in Figure 10, and embraces the web portion 36 of the arm 2. when the anchorage is positioned on this arm.

Since this anchorage for a single truss rod is always applied to the end of the mast arm its assembly thereon is a very simple matter, and the bolts and nuts 31, 32, serve to clamp the construction firmly to the upper face of the arm 2, while the engagement of the slotted extension with the web of the cross arm serves to hold the fixture firmly as against slipping when strains are placed on the truss rod.

In the construction shown at these Figures 7, 8, 9 and 10, the single truss rod is denoted by the numeral 37 while the nut driven on the end of the truss rod against the housing member 33 designated by the numeral 38.

It will therefore be clear that this truss rod structure is installed in connection with imperforate poles and cross or mast arms, and that no matter how great the strain may be on the truss rod there will be no danger of shearing the bolts 10 since the strain is all taken up by the curved surfaces 11 of the fixture 3.

Vhat is claimed is 2- 1. A truss structure for electrical railway equipment, comprising an imperforate H- shaped metal pole and cross arm, said pole and arm being clamped together, a pair of clamping fixtures secured to opposite edges of the pole, a clevis pivotally swung from said fixtures and having movements in a vertical plane, a coupler pivoted to said clevis and having movement in a horizontal plane, an anchorage secured to said cross-arm, and a truss-rod carried by said coupler and having its free end secured to said anchorage.

2. A construction as in claim 1, with the addition that the clevis is formed with laterally extending wings that contact the inner faces of the clamping fixtures.

3. A construction as in claim 1, further distinguished in that the clamping fixtures are secured to the pole by horizontally extending bolts passed through said. fixtures beyond the inner face of the pole with nuts driven on the ends of said bolts, and that said, clevis is pivoted intermediate said fixtures around one of said bolts.

4. A construction as in claim 1, in which the anchorage is formed with an upstanding perforated member through which the free end of the truss-rod is passed, and a nut is driven on said end whereby the rod is firmly secured.

5. A truss structure for electrical railway equipment, comprising an impcrforate H- shaped metal pole and cross-arm, said pole and arm being clamped together, a pair of clamping fixtures secured to opposite edges of the pole, said fixtures being spaced apart and located mainly in proximity to the inner face of the pole, horizontal bolts with nuts driven thereon whereby the fixtures are clamped to the pole, the inner faces of the fixtures adjacent their spaced members being circular, a clevis pivoted around oneof said ROLLAND G. WILLIAMS. 

